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Nat Commun
. 2022 May 10;13(1):2314.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29614-9.
Archival influenza virus genomes from Europe reveal genomic variability during the 1918 pandemic
Livia V Patrono # 1 2 , Bram Vrancken # 3 , Matthias Budt # 4 , Ariane Düx 1 2 , Sebastian Lequime 5 , Sengül Boral 6 , M Thomas P Gilbert 7 8 , Jan F Gogarten 1 2 , Luisa Hoffmann 4 , David Horst 6 , Kevin Merkel 1 2 , David Morens 9 , Baptiste Prepoint 2 10 , Jasmin Schlotterbeck 2 , Verena J Schuenemann 11 , Marc A Suchard 12 13 14 , Jeffery K Taubenberger 15 , Luisa Tenkhoff 4 , Christian Urban 11 , Navena Widulin 16 , Eduard Winter 17 , Michael Worobey 18 , Thomas Schnalke 16 , Thorsten Wolff 4 , Philippe Lemey 3 , Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer 19 20
Affiliations
- PMID: 35538057
- DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29614-9
Abstract
The 1918 influenza pandemic was the deadliest respiratory pandemic of the 20th century and determined the genomic make-up of subsequent human influenza A viruses (IAV). Here, we analyze both the first 1918 IAV genomes from Europe and the first from samples prior to the autumn peak. 1918 IAV genomic diversity is consistent with a combination of local transmission and long-distance dispersal events. Comparison of genomes before and during the pandemic peak shows variation at two sites in the nucleoprotein gene associated with resistance to host antiviral response, pointing at a possible adaptation of 1918 IAV to humans. Finally, local molecular clock modeling suggests a pure pandemic descent of seasonal H1N1 IAV as an alternative to the hypothesis of origination through an intrasubtype reassortment.
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